Using a Power Macintosh G3, no mouse

Welcome!

Blue & White G3s had USB ports so a regular wired USB mouse would work on one of those.

If this is the older "Beige" G3, some were retrofitted with USB PCI cards, so look on the back panel for USB-A ports where the expansion slots poke through the case.

Otherwise, assuming the computer fully booted, Mouse Keys was a feature even back in the G3 days:

Control the pointer using Mouse Keys on Mac - Apple Support

Assuming the keyboard you have has working function keys, you can access the Accessibility options that include Mouse Keys by doing CONTROL F2. See this Stack Exchange forum response:

Enable Mouse Keys

and this Apple article:

Accessibility Shortcuts

If this is too much, hit some local thrift stores that have electronic stuff. It's amazing how much ancient Mac gear is still around.

Hi,

You mentioned ADB. If the keyboard has a fixed cable, you should find an ADB port somewhere on the keyboard for the mouse. Some keyboards had two ADB ports, one for a cable and the other for an ADB mouse. Any information about the exact keyboard make and model (or a picture)?

Jan,

Sounds like the sticking point is the OP's lack of an ADB mouse. There used ot be a keyboard shortcut that did not involve all the steps laid out in the article I listed articles. I cant find a reference to it now. You repeated one key enough times fast enough and Mouse Keys was enabled. Do you remember that and which key?

Thanks!

Allan

Hello Allan,

Are you thinking about Sticky Keys? Pressing the Shift key five times would change Sticky Keys off-to-on and vice versa. This and Mouse Keys would be found in the Easy Access control panel under System 7.x. However, radio buttons are used to switch Mouse Keys on/off. I am not sure about if/how one could do that without a mouse, though.

See also pp 11 to 13 in the above manual. If the OP has a keyboard with a Power key (with a triangle), it would be possible to press that key, and then the Return key, in order to turn the computer off.

Jan

>would be found in the Easy Access control panel under System 7.x.

I should add that a beige Power Macintosh G3 would use at least Mac OS 8, so things may be a bit different (also depending on whether extra software has been installed).

See also page 9 here:

http://manuals.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Manuals/desktops/0340540PMG3DTSU.PDF